The columnists were sometimes among Obama’s harshest critics on the campaign trail and the meal seems like an effort to get off on the right foot with potentially influential critics as Obama prepares to take office next week.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, spotted at the dinner party by a pool reporter, refused to confirm details, telling Politico the dinner was off-the-record.

In a pool report filed from outside Will’s home, Kenneth R. Bazinet of the New York Daily News wrote “This is for real, folks. The bloggers are going to love this one.”